Blog
The Rulers Make The Rules
Commentary by Elizabeth Simpson The rulers make the rules. When they do, they impose their ideas of “right” and “wrong” on everybody else. That’s why alcohol is legal in North Carolina and weed is not. During Prohibition, as white Southerners brewed illegal moonshine...
Solidarity with the Incarcerated from NC to Guantanamo
Please join Emancipate NC’s Cierra Cobb and Kerwin Pittman, along with many allied people and organizations, at a coalition event on June 26 at 2 pm at Chavis Community Center to demonstrate solidarity with people in...
Emancipate NC Forces RPD To Adopt De-Escalation Policy
On June 8, 2022, on the heels of Emancipate NC petitioning for release of body camera footage of the police shooting of Reuel Rodriguez-Nunez, Raleigh Police finally admitted they need a De-Escalation Policy. The police adopted Kerwin Pittman's language, conceding...
Justice League Report From the General Assembly
The following summary of Senate Bill 660 comes from our Justice League Fellow and summer intern, Kyla Holton. The proliferation of publish-for-pay entities publishing booking photographs is a problem that prevents people from achieving a fresh start with housing and...
Welcome to Emancipate NC’s Summer 2022 Interns
Pictured clockwise from top left: Caleb Barco, Kyla Holton, Maren Hurley, and Isabella Lane. Emancipate NC is proud to introduce our 2022 Summer Interns. Summer Interns assist us with all aspects of our work and bring us new energy and ideas. My name is Caleb...
Emancipate NC Files Amicus Brief About Hemp & Marijuana
On May 13, Emancipate NC Associate Director Elizabeth Simpson filed an amicus brief in the North Carolina Supreme Court about probable cause and cannabis. It calls for the Court to stop police from using the smell of "weed" as a pretext to search people...
Dawn Blagrove Wins James E. Williams Award
On May 11, Emancipate NC Executive Director Dawn Blagrove received the James E. Williams Jr. Award, presented by the North Carolina Public Defender Committee on Racial Equity at the NC Public Defenders Conference. The award is given for...
Reviving the Black Radical Tradition in Greenville
Join Emancipate NC and Mapinduzi on Saturday, May 28 at 3:30 p.m. at 804 West 5th Street in Greenville, NC for an African Liberation Day festival. The event includes guest speakers, free food, entertainment, activities for kids, local...
Know Your Rights in Police Encounters
On May 14, Emancipate NC Director of Policy and Program Kerwin Pittman and Organizer Dedan Waciuri traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina for a Know Your Rights event. The event was sponsored by the ACLU of North Carolina,...
Emancipate NC Settles Claim Against RPD
Photo Credit: Ben McKeown, News Observer Throughout Summer 2020, Emancipate NC supported protests after the tragic and brutal police murder of George Floyd. In addition to our active presence in the streets and speaking at events, we also provided infrastructure in...
Emancipate NC Supports Elizabeth City
Last week, Kerwin Pittman and Dedan Waciuri traveled to Elizabeth City, North Carolina to attend a nonpartisan NAACP candidate forum for municipal elections. The live stream is located here. Since sheriff’s deputies murdered Andrew Brown one...
Encouraging Public Schools to Adopt Restorative Practices
One important way to keep teenagers out of the criminal legal system is to implement restorative practices in our public schools. Restorative practices teach students and teachers how to address harm and how to protect human dignity without reverting to systems of...
Introducing Peace Not Police
Dedan Wacuiri is Emancipate NC’s Organizer in Greenville, North Carolina (Pitt County). He and his community are already engaged in work to educate neighbors about how to protect themselves from police harassment. In Greenville, 37% of residents are Black, primarily...
Emancipate NC Raises A Billboard in Tyrrell County
Community members in Columbia, North Carolina (Tyrrell County) are ready for the offensive and racist Confederate monument at their courthouse to be removed. Emancipate NC joined with Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County to raise a billboard as a call to action....
A Last Visit With Mom
One of the indignities of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety is the way that they so often refuse to accommodate basic humanitarian needs, such as notifying family members when an incarcerated person is gravely sick, permitting an incarcerated individual...